PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR

Prince Henry the Navigator was the fifth child and fourth son of King João I (John I) and Queen Philippa. Henry was somewhat of a paradox: a dreamer, a scholar, and a monk who nevertheless possessed the instincts of a businessman. Essentially, Prince Henry was a religious man, committed to breaking the hold of heathens and securing the triumph of Christianity in Africa.

The crusading legacy of Portugal exerted tremendous influence during Prince Henry's time. The expulsion of Islamic North Africans from the Algarve was still a part of the living memory of most Portuguese, and the four great military orders, St. John, Santiago, Aviz, and Christ, still occupied their castles throughout the Portuguese realm. The importance of these military orders cannot be understated, for Prince Henry's own connections to the Order of Christ would play a significant role during the early years of Portuguese expansion.

Brief history of the military order of the Knights Templar

Another influence on Prince Henry's behaviour was the search for knightly honour. Like many European courts of the time, chivalric traditions were very important. It was this moral and ethical code that governed practically all conduct and in which all achievement must be found. Under the influence of English chivalry, King João introduced coats-of-arms, crests and mottoes for members of the Portuguese Court. For himself, the king chose the motto "Il me plaît", "He pleases me". Following the king's lead, Prince Henry chose "Talent de bien faire", and it is unlikely that a more appropriate motto could be found. Talent did not mean power, nor did it mean faculty. Rather, it meant "desire". The desire to do well.

Ceuta

The search for knightly honour and Portugal's crusading legacy would combine to launch the Portuguese era of expansion. In 1411, King João I concluded an uneasy peace with Castile that soon took the form of a non-aggression treaty which was specified to last for one hundred and one years, effectively making it impossible for Prince Henry and his brothers to win knightly honour in battle. The king proposed what he thought was an acceptable solution to the problem; Portugal would sponsor a jousting tournament with the best knights in Europe participating. Although the king thought that defeating these knights in such a contest would be enough to bring honour to his sons, the young princes were not convinced. Only battle could properly endow greatness. Prince Henry and his brothers began to think of an alternate plan that would enable them to win their spurs in a time of peace with the Castilians and the Spaniards. The city of Ceuta, which lay nearly opposite Gibraltar, presented a unique opportunity. The North African port served as the launching point for pirates operating in the straits, and was the port where many Christian prisoners began their tenure as slaves. Prince Henry organised an invasion force and when Portuguese ships, under the command of King João I, entered Ceuta in 1415, the city was unprepared and fell to the Portuguese with relative ease.

The capture of Ceuta by Portuguese troops quenched Prince Henry's passion for warfare and was the launching point for Prince Henry's intellectual curiosity about exploration. He had witnessed the African coast firsthand, and the more he heard from prisoners, the more he was intrigued by this vast land. His passion for warfare quenched by the attack on Ceuta, Prince Henry began to turn his attention to the question of what lay beyond the vast sea of sand. Critically, the capture of Ceuta provided the Portuguese with maps that were more accurate than those they already possessed. These maps were made by Jews from Majorca who were allowed much greater freedom of movement in Moslem North Africa than Christians. Understandably, this familiarity with the region enabled them to produce precise maps at a time when most Christian maps were more inclined to be the product of half-truths and imagination.

PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR:  THE LURE OF TRADE

As we have seen, there were a number of factors that influenced Prince Henry's voyages of exploration. But along with these emerged another, more pragmatic, reason to explore. Although the Portuguese had long viewed the Atlantic as their major trading area and they had few business interests in the Mediterranean, Prince Henry saw Africa as a rich market teeming with natural resources and raw materials.

Portugal exported salt, wine, fresh and dried fruit, oil, honey, dried shellfish, cork, hops, and other raw materials to northern Europe in exchange for grain and flour, dried and salted fish, dairy products, metals, wood and other forest products for shipbuilding, textiles and other manufactured goods. Although the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are noted as a period of expansion of European influence, it is important to note that this era of commercial and colonial expansion was not the first. In fact, commercial trade enjoyed a long and extensive history in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, both in luxury items and articles of general consumption.

At the time of its conquest by the Portuguese, Ceuta was home to approximately 24,000 commercial establishments - some amounted to no more than market stalls - dealing in precious metals, silks, spices, and weapons, but since the Portuguese occupation of the city, trade gradually diminished to nothing. There were two ways to revitalise the city: either the Portuguese could establish a lasting peace with the North Africans, or they could conquer the territory around Ceuta to provide the city with an economic hinterland from which they could draw resources and markets. Because conflict between Islam and European Christianity prohibited a lasting peace from being established, in later years the Portuguese would try to gain control of the economic hinterland with disastrous results.

As we have seen, there were a number of reasons that Prince Henry began his voyages of exploration. Azurara, one of Prince Henry's contemporaries and chroniclers, summarised them as:

1. The desire to know the country beyond Cape Bojador.
2. To establish trade relations advantageous to Portugal.
3. To determine the strength of his enemies in the region.
4. To seek allies to help wage battles against the enemies of Christianity. 5. To spread Christianity.

The collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century did not bring with it the decline of commerce and trade in North Africa. Indeed, control of trade had merely fallen into local hands. When Portugal attempted to re-enter the North African trade, they discovered that they had to rely on a great number of intermediaries to do business, denying them the indispensable source of travel to gather information about African geography. The capture of Ceuta in 1415 meant, however, that Portuguese settlers were exposed to a larger number of stories about the interior of Africa. Denied the opportunity to explore the interior of Africa by land, Henry began to set his mind to an alternate approach; instead of exploring Africa directly, Prince Henry would attempt an encirclement, and would explore Africa by sea.

The two captains Prince Henry chose for his first expedition to explore Cape Bojador were not experienced sailors. Perhaps the selection was deliberate, for it seemed unlikely that any experienced sailor who had come into contact with the myths and legends surrounding sea travel would willingly sail into the unknown. Even more importantly, as one historian has pointed out, Portuguese mariners were not used to sailing out on the open sea; their nautical experience was limited to coasting in sight of land.

Not only did Prince Henry not accompany those first ships on their exploration of Cape Bojador, he did not go on any of the successive voyages, and this has led to some spirited debate among historians about how Prince Henry's role in the exploration of Africa should be interpreted. Does Prince Henry, as some have suggested, deserve a prominent place in history for providing the intellectual and financial stimulus for the voyages to take place? More recently, historians have suggested that Prince Henry did not play an active role in the exploration of Africa. Some have intimated that this would indicate that Prince Henry was a coward who feared the physical risks and dangers entailed by exploration. But others have replied that the courage the Prince displayed during the Ceuta campaign would seem to belie this explanation.

Clearly, there are many issues that must be dealt with before an adequate explanation can be found of why Prince Henry did not join the explorations. Perhaps it was the risk of being captured by North African pirates that prevented Prince Henry from taking a more active role, even though Portuguese ships were armed and no ship of Prince Henry's fell victim to pirates. Others, choosing to emphasise the positive aspect of Henry's preference to remain in Portugal conclude that the Prince's self-sacrifice was extraordinary. It was Henry's task to plan the expeditions and to assess and analyse the reports brought home. According to this perspective, it was only by remaining objective that Henry would be able to accurately sift through information gathered by the explorers, to separate truth from fiction, and to plan subsequent voyages. Perhaps the most plausible explanation regarding Henry's decision to remain at Sagres is that fifteenth century custom deemed activities, like living with a number of sailors in close quarters for months on end, to be beneath a prince. Granted, while others of noble descent did take part in the voyages, and given the fact that Prince Henry camped with his troops during military campaigns, squeamishness about close contact with sailors seems difficult to accept.

As word spread throughout Europe of the Portuguese expeditions, sailors, astronomers, cartographers, and geographers began to arrive at Sagres to offer their services to Prince Henry. There were Christians, Jews, and Arabs - Prince Henry had discovered the Arabs' superior navigational skills while at Ceuta years before - and what emerged at Sagres was not so much a school of navigation as much as it was a community of scholars, under the direction of Prince Henry, who joined together to conquer the unknown.

When Prince Henry's ships returned from their first exploration, their captains reported that they were unable to round Cape Bojador as planned. Shortly after losing sight of Cape St. Vincent, they were caught in a violent gale and lost all sense of direction. They drifted for days when the winds abruptly died. By sheer luck the crew sighted land, and the intrepid explorers made their way toward shore and a sheltering cove and they named this island Porto Santo ("blessed port"). As best as they could determine, Porto Santo was roughly five hundred miles to the southwest of Cape St. Vincent. The "discovery" of Porto Santo was significant because it was then used as a launching point for future voyages. It should be noted, however, that there is some reason to question whether or not Porto Santo was discovered by Prince Henry's ships, for the island's location coincides with one marked on a Genoese map made in approximately 1351. Nevertheless, the Portuguese believed that they had found a previously uncharted land mass, and armed with the information that there was land yet to be discovered, another expedition set out before the end of 1419. On this voyage, they encountered the island Madeira (Portuguese word for "wood") in the early months of 1420.

Prince Henry displayed remarkable perseverance and sent expedition after expedition into the "Sea of Darkness", as they called unknown water, in a fifteen-year attempt to round Cape Bojador. Even though he exhorted his captains with promises of increased reward and glory, it was not until 1434 that Gil Eanes (sometimes spelt "Eannes") managed to round the Cape. The physical distance travelled was not what was significant about this voyage. Rather, what was important was that Gil Eanes traveled beyond Cape Bojador and returned to Portugal, eliminating in one broad stroke many of the myths and legends about the "Sea of Darkness".

A number of explanations have been offered as to why it took Portuguese sailors so long to accomplish this task. The two most significant problems were that those ships which navigated along the shores of the African coast risked running aground and those who attempted to steer into the open water and strayed too far could be blown out to sea. Eanes succeeded because he did not attempt to sail in sight of land. Rather, Eanes charted a wide course into the Atlantic before altering his course and turning back towards Africa. When Eanes encountered land again, Cape Bojador wasbehind him. FINANCIAL REALITIES OF EXPLORATION & COLONIZATION: THE DEBACLE AT TANGIER

The exploration of Africa occupied a great deal of Prince Henry's time and attention, a past conquest soon became a pressing issue. The Portuguese colony at Ceuta was rapidly becoming a drain on the national treasury and it was realised that without the city of Tangier, possession of Ceuta was worthless. When Ceuta was lost to the Portuguese, the camel caravans that were part of the overland trade routes began to use Tangier as their destination. This deprived Ceuta of the materials and goods that made it an attractive market and a vibrant trading locale, and the city rapidly became an isolated community. The cost of garrisoning generated further losses, a situation that might be reversed if Portugal were to capture Tangier. There was, however, another reason to launch a military campaign against Tangier. Prince Fernando, Prince Henry's youngest brother, was only eleven years old when the Portuguese captured Ceuta and he had not won his spurs in battle like his older brothers. After much prodding, and some court intrigue, Prince Henry managed to convince his brother to begin preparations for an attack on Tangier in 1436.

In stark contrast to the attack on Ceuta years before, the Portuguese assault on Tangier was poorly conceived and badly executed. When the Portuguese fleet set sail in August 1437, it contained only 6,000 troops; Portuguese planners originally estimated that it would take 14,000 soldiers to comprise an adequate striking force. Furthermore, no attempt was made by Prince Henry to disguise his intention to attack the city, and the North Africans were well prepared to turn back the Portuguese. Three times Prince Henry attempted to assault the city, and all three times his armies were repulsed. Only after his chaplain deserted him and told the North Africans the details of the new assault did the full measure of the futility of his attacks grip Prince Henry. Realising that his position was hopeless, Prince Henry asked the North African leader, Sala-ben-Sala, to dictate his terms for surrender. The North African's terms were decidedly harsh. Not only would the Portuguese have to agree to an exchange of hostages - Prince Henry's brother, Prince Fernando, for one of Sala-ben-Sala's sons - but the Portuguese would have to abandon the city of Ceuta. The exchange of hostages was a show of good faith easily agreed upon by the two leaders but it soon became clear that Sala-ben-Sala would have to wrestle Ceuta from the Portuguese. Sala-ben-Sala declared that the Portuguese would have to abandon Ceuta before Prince Fernando would be released. When the Portuguese protested, and reminded the North Africans that they were holding one of the king's sons, Sala-ben-Sala replied that he had many other sons and that he did not particularly care for the one the Portuguese were holding. Thus, Prince Henry had to make a decision, either he could sacrifice the city of Ceuta to obtain his brother's release, or he could keep Ceuta and condemn Fernando to imprisonment. The city of Ceuta was deemed to be an important outpost of Christianity against the infidel and even the Pope advised against trading Ceuta for Prince Fernando's life. The city could not be sacrificed for one man, even for the brother of the king of Portugal. Needless to say, Prince Fernando died in captivity four years later.

Prince Henry returned devastated from the debacle at Tangier. After nearly a year had passed, Prince Henry resumed his exploration of the sea and some of his associates believed that his new-found vigour owed a great deal to the failure at Tangier. It was almost as if Prince Henry believed he could avenge the defeat and humble the Muslims by conquering the whole of Africa. Moreover, Prince Henry committed himself to finding the fabled Prester John in order to bring the battle directly to his enemies. An incredible patchwork of hearsay and rumour contributed to the legend of Prester John but what was significant about Prester John for Prince Henry was not the land of riches that could be found within the borders of Prester John's kingdom, but the belief that a Christian king had managed to establish and sustain an empire in the heart of Muslim-held territory. Therefore, locating Prester John meant delivering a devastating blow to the Muslims.

Old World Contact's Prester John

Another expedition was sent out in 1441 to "make peace" with the indigenous populations of North Africa. But rather than "make peace" with the Africans as Prince Henry had ordered, ten prisoners were taken. One of the prisoners happened to be the chief of the tribe by the name of Adahu. Fortunately for the Portuguese, Adahu spoke Arabic and could communicate with the Bedouin translator. The captain decided to bring back Adahu as a prize for Henry. Before returning to Portugal, the ship's captain sailed further down the coast until he encountered a headland of white cliffs, which he named Cabo Branco (Cape Blanco).

Upon returning to Sagres , Adahu described what he knew of Africa and the land-based trade routes. The questioning of Adahu was undoubtedly an exciting exercise for Prince Henry; for the first time since the capture of Ceuta, Prince Henry was able to verify the information gathered by explorers with Adahu's first-hand knowledge. The capture of Adahu also marked the beginning of the use of the indigenous population as interpreters for subsequent voyages.

An envoy was sent to the Pope to report the information gathered by Prince Henry and to request that the Portuguese Prince be granted spiritual jurisdiction over all the lands he "discovered" to the south. Prince Henry also wanted that those who lost their lives on these voyages be considered to have died while on a crusade. The Church agreed and these concessions were matched by the Portuguese monarch. Prince Pedro granted Prince Henry a charter that entitled Henry to one-fifth of the profits of the expedition, normally a prerogative reserved for the Crown. Prince Pedro also stipulated that all captains sailing down the African coast must first seek Prince Henry's permission.

PRINCE HENRY: AN ASSESSMENT

Europe's exploration of the outside world began a new era of political, economic, and social contacts and it can certainly be argued that the voyages undertaken in Prince Henry's name marked the first sustained expansion outside Europe and set the tone for subsequent voyages. It can also be said that, by 1500, the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires had finally exceeded the achievements of classical Greece and Rome. A definitive evaluation of Prince Henry's contribution to the rise of the powers, however, remains elusive. Was Prince Henry a skilful leader able to inspire those under his charge to greater feats of courage and nautical daring, or was he simply an administrator claiming credit for the accomplishments of others?

Certainly, Portugal was interested in developing markets and resources to stimulate its economy. The reality, however, is that for the first twenty years, the revenue gathered from such voyages was negligible, leading some to speculate that the financing for the voyages must have come from a private source, including Prince Henry's own fortune. Although the main source of his revenue was not available until later in his life - the product of the concessions granted to him by the Portuguese Crown - it must be remembered that Prince Henry had control over the Military Order of Christ. Thus, the Military Order of Christ may have supplied the bulk of capital required to finance the early years of Prince Henry's explorations. The use of funds from a religious order made it imperative that exploration should be justified as having a high religious purpose, such as the conversion of heathens to Christianity or inflicting damage on Islamic territories. After 1443, it is possible to argue that exploration became self-sufficient with the profits from trade and commerce making voyages profitable. For example, merchants could expect a fourfold profit when trading in cloth.

It cannot be forgotten that Prince Henry instituted many of the practices that would become standard features of European exploration. By systematically exploring the African coast, Prince Henry inaugurated a policy of exploration that built on the knowledge of previous voyages. Instead of remaining content with the extent of existing knowledge, Prince Henry used the end of one voyage as the beginning for the next. Other aspects of Prince Henry's system were equally as remarkable. The Portuguese practice of recruiting members of the indigenous population who became interpreters helped to lay both the intellectual and financial groundwork for future voyages. By using interpreters in this manner, Prince Henry was able to build an effective and reliable source of information about the areas to be explored by Europeans. Interpreters also significantly contributed to the European voyages of exploration by allowing Europeans to communicate with indigenous populations in a peaceful manner. Such relations were important to establishing friendly trade and gathering information. Perhaps the most important feature of Prince Henry, and thus his most important contribution to the voyages of exploration, was his curiosity. Although he did not accompany any of the ships under his charge during their voyages, he sent captains to sea to find answers to questions. Therefore, while it is debatable whether or not Prince Henry deserves credit for the courage of Gil Eanes, it is certain that Henry provided the intellectual stimuli that sustained exploration during its early years.

THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS

Madeira, one of the earliest colonies to incorporate the plantation system for the production of sugar

The Atlantic Islands were the birthplace of the Portuguese colonisation pattern of exploration, settlement, agricultural conversion of lands, the institution of the plantation model (donatary captaincy), and the incorporation of African slave labour on a large scale. The first recorded Portuguese expedition into the Atlantic took place in 1341 with its destination being the Canary Islands that were known to the ancient Greeks as the Fortunate Islands. The expedition successfully returned to Lisbon with a cargo of four indigenous people, fish oil, red wood and skins. Despite this success there was no immediate follow up to this expedition. Portuguese ventures at sea then consisted of raiding and trading with towns along the known coastline of Northern Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. This continued until the era of Prince Henry when the Canary Islands became important as a supply way-station for expeditions sailing the Canary route that was the shortest course to the West African coast. One of Prince Henry's early expeditions into the Atlantic occurred in 1420 with the rediscovery of Madeira. Prince Henry instigated its colonisation because it was uninhabited and could easily be converted to the agricultural production of wheat and sugar. By 1500 Madeira was the leading producer of sugar and had incorporated a plantation system that depended heavily on African slave labour. The Azores were discovered in 1427 and colonised with criminals by Prince Henry and his associates. Again the pattern of agricultural production that incorporated the plantation model and slave labor was successful in producing wine, wheat, and sugar. Due to their location, the Azores also became an important way-station for the rapidly expanding African slave trade. This pattern of discovery and settlement was repeated in 1460 with Fernao Gomes' discovery of the Cape Verde Islands, and in 1470 with the discovery of Saõ Tomé. It is important to note that the Portuguese efforts in Africa and Asia were aimed at building trading posts rather than permanent settlements, in this regard the Atlantic Islands were unique until the discovery and settlement of Brazil in 1500.

AFRICA

Ceuta: The First Step

The first step forward in Portuguese expansion was the assault on the Moor port of Ceuta in 1415. King João I (John I) and his sons had organised this expedition to conquer Ceuta that lay across the Straits of Gibraltar on the coast of North Africa. It was an expensive enterprise that failed to recover the cost of the expedition or the three thousand men left by Prince Pedro to garrison the town. Although a financial failure, the fall of Ceuta greatly added to the prestige of King João I, his sons and to Portugal. This experience in North Africa would stimulate the minds of the Princes Pedro and Henry, each would become a life-long supporter of overseas expansion.

The Search for Gold and Slaves

During this period there had been a shortage of gold that increasingly hindered the growth of European trade. Ceuta had been a part of a centuries-old traffic in the products of the trans-Saharan caravan routes that provided a source of gold rumoured to have originated in a wealthy nation that lay across the Sahara Desert known as Guinea. The possibility of gold in this new land was too tempting for the Portuguese to resist. They pursued the idea of discovering a sea route to Guinea that would allow them to by-pass the caravan route that was controlled by their enemies the Moors. Prince Henry was able to use his royal status to gain the Crown's permission for numerous expeditions that focused on gaining immediate profit by virtue of raiding and trading usually at the expense of Arab merchantmen. These types of expeditions were the norm until 1420 when the Portuguese sailors discovered and colonised the island of Madeira and the Azores.

These two islands were invaluable ports of call for future Portuguese expeditions since the Spanish had previously claimed the Canary Islands. Numerous individuals led these expeditions some of whom were foreign captains like Alvise da Cadamosto, who willing to sail under Prince Henry's patronage. The most successful explorers of Prince Henry's captains were usually his own squires and associates like João Gonçalves Zarco, Tristão Vaz, and Bartolemeau Perestrello. In 1434 Gil Eanes, another one of the prince's squires, led the expedition that was the first to sail beyond the Cape of Bojador. This was a monumental accomplishment because it destroyed the fixed belief that the ocean beyond Bojador was unnavigable. Eanes was quickly sent out again and found evidence that the coast was inhabited and the possibility for raiding and trading arose. Progress along the coast was interrupted for four years because of the Portuguese failed expedition to Tangier, the death of King Duarte, and the struggle over the regency.

With the death of King João I, his son Duarte assumed the throne and granted Prince Henry a "royal fifth" from the profits of all voyages and decreed that no expedition could sail beyond Cape Bojador without a license from the Prince. King Duarte died after a short reign of five years, leaving his six year old son Afonso V as his heir. Prince Pedro took control of the state by becoming Afonso's regent. He quickly confirmed Prince Henry's grant and gave him permission to colonise the Azores. Under Prince Pedro's regency the Portuguese completed King Duarte's secret experiment in ship design that resulted in the evolution of a new type of ship known as the caravel.

In 1441 the expeditions began again using the new type of ship. Prince Henry's chamberlain, Antão Gonçalves, led an expedition to acquire a cargo of seal skins and oil with orders to go further into the unknown. On one occasion Gonçalves sought out a village along the Rio do Ouro and took several captives back to Portugal. This was the beginning of what would become the African Slave Trade. Another one of Henry's captains, Nuno Tristão, would discover the Bay of Arguim. Here Henry had a fort constructed in 1448 that would become the centre of trade with the African states of the interior. Tristão also found the end to the desert and reported the beginning of a lush green country. This inspired Dinis Dias raised enough capital to have Prince Henry grant him a license and a caravel. He sailed pass the Senegal River eventually arriving at the Cape of Verde that was the western limits of the African continent.

Not all the expeditions succeeded. Nuno Tristão died after being attacked with poison arrows by the inhabitants of a village he and his men were attempting to raid for slaves, leaving only five survivors to return home. Despite Tristão's death the voyages continued thanks to the rewards offered by the Regent Pedro and Prince Henry who recognised the potential of the African trade. Merchants like Fernão Gomes shared this vision and actively financed their own expeditions. In Gomes' case he petitioned the Crown for the exclusive rights to handle the trade of West Africa since the Crown was distracted by the Castilian war of succession that brought Isabella and Ferdinand to the Spanish throne. Gomes' ventures quickly grew into a thriving pepper trade that in turn led to his sailors' discovery of the gold-producing region of the Gold Coast (modern Ghana). When King João II (John II) succeeded his father, King Afonso V, to the throne of Portugal, he renewed the Crown's support of overseas exploration that had fallen by the wayside of his father's administration. Within four years King João II had personally sponsored, rather than simply granting a license, three expeditions led by Diogo Cão and Bartolomeu Dias that accomplished more in four years than his predecessors had in forty. These voyages reflected the change in policy from simply expanding overseas trade to finding a specific sea route to India.

In 1482 King João II sent out Diogo Cão on the first of two voyages. He discovered that the African continent turned south and ran for thousands more kilometres before eventually turning. Cão came to the Kingdom of the Congo where he began a trading relationship that would recoup the cost of the voyages. Bartolomeu Dias continued this exploration by rounding the southern extremity of the African continent in 1488, naming it the Cape of Good Hope. In 1484 King João II had rejected the proposals of Christopher Columbus who then sought out the patronage of Queen Isabella of Spain. With Columbus' discovery of the Caribbean and America, Isabella immediately requested that Pope Alexander VI endorse a series of bulls that divided the world into two parts by a line drawn from north to south one hundred leagues west of the Azores. King João II rejected this location of this line and opened negotiations with Spain immediately, the result was the Treaty of Tordesilla of 1494. Pope Alexander's line was moved to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Treaty of Tordesilla, King João II died in 1495 from pneumonia. His cousin, King Manuel the Fortunate, assumed the throne and continued to support the search for a seaway to the Indies. He appointed Vasco da Gama as the leader of the expedition that would discover the route to the Indian Ocean that rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. This new route marked the beginning of a new era of direct contact between Europe and Asia. During his reign King Manuel was the ruler of the greatest empire of his time and benefited from a growing African trade and the golden harvest of the Indies.